Broadside regarding the scarcity of food and inflated prices during the Siege of Paris. 19 5/8 x 12 1/2 inches. Loose as issued. Some toning, vertical crease along center of top half of broadside, tearing and minor paper losses along both horizontal and vertical central fold lines, overall good. Paris: Edouart Blot/M. Pigeol, 1871.

A very rare first edition of a broadside published directly after the Siege of Paris and just before the start of the Paris Commune, and an excellent example of wartime gastronomic scarcity. Emperor Napoleon III had surrendered to the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan on September 2, 1870, but the new French government, the Third Republic, advocated for the war to continue. On September 19, the Prussians encircled the city of Paris, and for the next four months attempted to starve the city into surrender. Food supplies within Paris dwindled, and prices skyrocketed. Rationing did not start until mid-October, and then only of meat, and there were no attempts to limited hoarding by wealthier residents. The poor suffered the most.

This anti-Monarchist broadside lays out the prices of various foods during the siege. These include: a half kilo of fresh butter for 60 francs; 1 can of sardines for 12.5 francs; a 1/2 kilo of horse meat for 8 francs; 1 sheep brain for 5 francs; 1 carrot for 2.25 francs; 1 cat for 15 francs; 1 rabbit for 60 francs; 1 fresh egg for 2.75 francs; a bushel of onions for 65 francs; a bushel of potatoes for 50 francs; 1 rat for 2.25 francs; 1 crow for 6 francs; and a 1/2 kilo of dog meat for 3.50 francs, among others.

Underneath the list of foodstuffs and their prices is a note that a member of the National Guard was paid 1.50 francs per day. According to these prices, a soldier could not even afford to buy a rat with a day's wages. But the wealthy members of society could afford a goose for 175 francs or a turkey with black truffles for 200 francs. The disparity in the level of suffering between the rich and poor in Paris was not lost on anyone, and it is not surprising that the Paris Commune would start shortly thereafter.

The lower margin attributes the text of the broadside to "Un cordon bleu, L.G.", and notes that the broadside is available for purchase at M. Pigeol's wine shop at the corner of rue Montmartre and rue du Croissant, located in the 2nd arrondissement.

A rare example of scarcity and economic disparity from a tumultuous period of Parisian history. A second edition was printed in Bordeaux shortly after this one. As of February 2026, OCLC locates only two examples of the Parisian edition of this broadside in North American institutions.

Book ID: 53640

Price: $2,750.00